National Party Second Most Democratic Party in Pakistan: Report

Adnan Aamir

Quetta:National Party (NP) has been declared as the second most Democratic Party in Pakistan in a report published by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), on Monday.

According to the report, overall quality of political parties’ internal democracy slipped from 43% in 2014 to 40% in 2015. “Intra-party elections were mere formality in case of most political parties,” said the report.

Jamaat-e-Islami is most Democratic Party with score of 56 and National Party is second in list with score of 47

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President of PILDAT, said that internal democracy score of the report is not based on any opinion poll but on a systematic study.

According to this report, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is the most Democratic Party in Pakistan with a score of 56.

NP was declared as the second most Democratic Party with a score of 47 which was four points higher than same score of the party in last year’s report.

Report of PILDAT writes about NP that “Regular change in top leadership since its founding in 2003, party conventions successfully conducted in 2015 in which transparent party elections also took place for all four provincial chapters of the party, and lack of any sign of dynastic leadership have favored the democratic credentials of NP.”

Shahzada Zulfiqar, a senior analyst and President of Quetta Press Club, agreed with the findings of the report which termed NP as second most Democratic Party.

First Hayee, then Malik and Then Hasil was elected President of NP and we can’t see any such examples in other parties – Shahzada Zulfiqar

“Comparatively National Party is more democratic without a doubt,” said Mr. Zulfiqar. “First Hayee, then Malik and Then Hasil was elected President of NP and we can’t see any such examples in other parties,” added Mr. Zulfiqar.

Mr. Zulfiqar lamented that “In other parties top leadership is never elected and only dynastic political system prevails in another parties.

PML-N was declared least Democratic Party of Pakistan by report of PILDAT with a score of 31.

Adnan Aamir is founder and Editor of Balochistan Voices. He also contributes for The News, The News on Sunday and Newsline Magazine amongst others as a freelancer. He has completed Chevening South Asian Journalism fellowship from the University of Westminster.

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